Whenever [[Lacan]] uses the term "[[discourse]]" (rather than, say, "[[speech]]") it is in order to stress the [[intersubjectivity|transindividual]] nature of [[language]], the fact that [[speech]] always implies another [[subject]], an interlocutor.
Thus the famous [[Lacan|Lacanian formula]], "the unconscious is the discourse of the Other" designates the [[unconscious]] as the effects on the [[subject]] of [[speech]] that is addressed to him from elsewhere; by another [[subject]] who has been forgotten, by another [[scene|psychic locality]] (the other [[scene]]).
===Social Bond===In 1969, The term "[[discourse]]" is used by [[Lacan]] begins to use emphasize the term "[[discourseintersubjectivity|transindividual nature]] of [[language]]" in a slightly different way, though one the fact that still carries with it the stress on [[intersubjectivityspeech]] always implies another [[subject]], an interlocutor.
From this point The [[unconscious]] is the "[[discourse|discourse of the Other]]", or the effect on the term designates "a social bond[[subject]] of [[speech]] that is addressed to that [[subject]] from elsewhere, by another [[subject]] (who has been [[memory|forgotten]]), founded in language."<ref>{{S20}} pby an [[scene|other scene]] or [[scene|psychic locality]]. 21</ref>
[[Lacan]] identifies four possible types of [[discourse|social bond]], four possible articulations of the [[symbolic order|symbolic network]] which regulates [[intersubjectivity|intersubjective relations]].
==Four Discourses==
These "[[four discourses]]" are the [[discourse|discourse of the master]], the [[discourse|discourse of the university]], the [[discourse|discourse of the hysteric]], and the [[discourse|discourse of the analyst]].
[[Lacan]] represents each of the [[four discourses]] by an [[matheme|algorithm]]: each [[matheme|algorithm]] contains four [[algebraic]] [[symbol]]s.
[[Image:Lacan-fourdiscourseletters.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Algebra]]ic [[symbol]]s from the [[Four Discourses]]]]
===Four Positions===
What distinguishes the [[four discourses]] from one another is the positions of these four [[symbol]]s.
There are four positions in the [[matheme|algorithm]]s of the [[four discourses]], each of which is designated by a different name.
The names of the four positions are shown below; [[Lacan]] gives different names to these positions at different points in his work, and this figure is taken from the 1972-3 seminar.<ref>{{S20}} p. 21</ref>
[[Image:Lacan-structurefourdiscourses.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The structure of the four discourses]]
Each [[discourse]] is defined by writing the four [[algebraic]] [[symbol]]s in a different position.
The [[symbol]]s always remain in the same order, so each [[discourse]] is simply the result of rotating the [[symbol]]s a quarter turn.
The top-left position ("[[discourse|the agent]]") is the dominant position which defines the [[discourse]].
In addition to the four [[symbol]]s, each [[matheme|algorithm]] also contains an arrow going from the [[discourse|agent]] to the [[discourse|other]].
The [[four discourses]] are shown in the figure to the right.
[[Image:Lacan-fourdiscourses.jpg|thumb|right|The four discourses]]
===Arrows===
In 1971, [[Lacan]] proposes that the position of the [[discourse|agent]] is also the position of the [[semblance]].
In 1972, [[Lacan]] inscribes two arrows in the [[matheme|formula]]s instead of one; one arrow (which [[Lacan]] labels "impossibility") goes from the [[discourse|agent]] to the [[discourse|other]], and the other arrow (which is labelled "powerlessness") goes from [[discourse|production]] to [[discourse|truth]].<ref>{{S20}} p.21</ref>
==Discourse of the Master==
[[Image:MASTERDISCOURSE.jpg|thumb|right|[[Discourse]] of the [[Master]]]]
The [[discourse]] of the [[master]] is the basic [[discourse]] from which the other three [[discourse]]s are derived.
The dominant position is occupied by the [[master signifier]] ([[Image:SS1.gif]]), which represents the [[subject]] ('''S''') for another [[signifier]] or, more precisely, for all other [[signifiers]] ([[Image:SS2.gif]]); however, in this signifying operation there is always a [[surplus]], namely, ''[[objet petit a]]''.
The point is that all attempts at totalisation are doomed to failure.
The [[discourse]] of the [[master]] "masks the division of the subject."<ref>{{S17}} p. 118</ref>
The [[discourse]] also illustrates clearly the [[structure]] of the [[dialectic]] of the [[master]] and the [[slave]].
The [[master]] ([[Image:SS1.gif]]) is the [[discourse|agent]] who puts the [[slave]] ([[Image:SS2.gif]]) to work; the result of this work is a [[surplus]] (''[[objet (petit) a|a]]'') that the [[master]] attempts to appropriate.
==The Discourse of the University==
[[Image:UNIVERSITYDISCOURSE.jpg|thumb|right|[[Discourse]] of the [[University]]]]
The [[discourse]] of the [[university]] is produced by a quarter turn of the [[discourse]] of the [[master]] (anticlockwise).
The dominant position is occupied by [[knowledge]] (''[[savoir]]'').
This illustrates the fact that behind all attempts to impart an apparently "neutral" [[knowledge]] to the [[other]] can always be located an attempt at [[master]]y ([[master]]y of [[knowledge]], and domination of the [[other]] to whom this [[knowledge]] is imparted).
The [[discourse]] of the [[university]] represents the hegemony of [[knowledge]], particularly visible in modernity in the form of the hegemony of [[science]].
==The Discourse of the Hysteric==
[[Image:HYSTERICDISCOURSE.jpg|thumb|right|[[Discourse]] of the [[Hysteria|Hysteric]]]]
The [[discourse]] of the [[hysteric]] is also produced by a quarter turn of the [[discourse]] of the [[master]], but in a clockwise direction.
It is not simply "that which is uttered by a hysteric", but a certain kind of [[discourse|social bond]] in which any [[subject]] may be inscribed.
The dominant position is occupied by the [[split|divided]] [[subject]], the [[symptom]].
This [[discourse]] is that which points the way towards [[knowledge]].<ref>{{S17}} p. 23</ref>.
[[Psychoanalytic treatment]] involves "the structural intro- duction of the discourse of the hysteric by means of artificial conditions"; in other words, the [[analyst]] "[[hysteria|hystericises]]" the [[patient]]'s [[discourse]].<ref>{{S17}} p. 35</ref>
==The Discourse of the Analyst==
[[Image:ANALYSTDISCOURSE.jpg|thumb|right|[[Discourse]] of the [[Analyst]]]]
The [[discourse]] of the [[analyst]] is produced by a quarter turn of the [[discourse]] of the [[hysteric]] (in the same way as [[Freud]] developed [[psychoanalysis]] by giving an [[interpretation|interpretative]] turn to the [[discourse]] of his [[hysterical]] [[patient]]s).
The position of the [[discourse|agent]], which is the position occupied by the [[analyst]] in the [[treatment]], is occupied by ''[[objet (petit) a|objet petit a]]''; this illustrates the fact that the [[analyst]] must, in the course of the [[treatment]], become the [[cause]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[desire]].<ref>{{S17}} p. 41</ref>
The fact that this [[discourse]] is the inverse of the [[discourse]] of the [[master]] emphasises that, for [[Lacan]], [[psychoanalysis]] is an essentially subversive practice which undermines all attempts at domination and [[master]]y.
